How long does a retainer have to be in your mouth?

Question

Well I just got my braces off last night. They said it would take 3 years but I guess I got lucky and it was only 1. Now i'm getting a retainer tomorrow.. how long will it be in my mouth?

Answer 1

Your ortho or dentist will tell you that. A lot will depend on how much you keep it in your mouth. If you do what you are told, you will be able to take it out for special dates and occasions. If you can sleep with it, do so, if your dentist says you can. Even after you stop wearing it regularly, you may want to use it once in awhile. I bet you will be gorgeous with those braces off!  

Answer 2

Every orthodontist/dentist has a different philosophy and orthodontic philosophy is constantly changing. The dentist I worked for always said that 'Retention is for life'. There are ligaments that attach your teeth to the bone that get twisted and stretched in order to get your teeth straight. He used to explain retention like this:

Imagine what it's like when you have an open bag of vegetables in your freezer that you've closed with a rubber band. If you take the bag out within a day or so the rubber band will still have plenty of elasticity and return to it's original size and shape. However, if it gets buried in the back of the freezer than the band will freeze in that shape permanently.

The ligaments around your teeth are the same as that rubber band and your retainer is like the freezer. If you don't wear your retainer as long as you're supposed to that the ligaments will want to return to the way they were before treatment and your teeth will go crooked again. So it's important to wear it regularly.

The dentist I worked for always said you should wear your retainer for at least six months FULL TIME. That's ALL the time. The only time you take it out is to eat, brush, or floss. (And your dentist should give you specific instructions on how to keep your retainer clean.) That includes at night when your sleeping.

After six months you can start leaving it out during the day. If you put the retainer back in at night and it feels tight or like it's pushing on your teeth more than usual than your teeth moved during the day and you should continued wearing it full time again for up to another six months.

Once it isn't tight when you leave it out for the day you can start to wear it at night only for six months to a year again. After that point you can start to wean yourself off of it to only 5 days a week and so on and so forth. However, you will find that you may have to wear it periodically for the rest of your life to make sure things stay in place. That may mean once a night every couple of weeks, or once a night every month. It depends on your mouth and how far your teeth were moved in the first place. (The further they were moved, the longer you will have to retain them with a retainer regularly.)

It can be a pain in the you-know-what to wear your retainer, but it's important if you want to keep your smile straight and beautiful! Good luck!

Answer 3

In order to keep your perfect new smile forever, you will have to wear it all the time for six months or so, then just at night for six months or so, and then a few nights a week for the rest of your life.  You will never be able to toss it.  Teeth can move back even years after having braces, so don't waste your parents' money.